French loss 8 June 1915

[Regulus]

From the history of the Seeflugstation Flandern I at Zeebrugge :

8 June 1915 a French plane is shot down by plane 639 at 10.50 hours, and the crew was taken POW by a U-boat.

Can anyone help on the crew and plane ?

Thanks and best from Johan

[CNOCK]

HI,

I don't think there was already a FF33 nrs 639 at Zeebrugge on 8/6/1915
But nr 639 brought in a Short seaplane on 24/7/1916, plane shot down by UC 10.
There even is a pic of A14 towing in the Short at Zeebrugge.

Regards,

Cnock

[Regulus]

Hi Cnock,

Concerning the 24/7/1916 incident :

24 July 1916 : UC10 submarine shoots down a British Short seaplane which forcelanded at sea. Plane 639 landed near them and the two British officers were ordered to surrender, with a MG pointed at them, so they didn’t have to think long about it ! First they took the plane on tow, and when the torpedoboat A14 was near, it took both plane and crew over from the seaplane and went to Zeebrugge with them. In fact this concerned plane no 819, a Short 830 from Dunkirk, crewed with Flight Lt’s. JF Bailey and FW Mardock.
The German crew was Vzfmst Hans Röver and Vzfmst Karl Hillger.

Concerning the 8th June 1915, I also have my doubts how correct this might be. FF33's were in service by the end of the year, but as this was a sidenote I found, I thought it's worth checking if there's anything from it that might be correct...

Thanks and best from Johan

[gilles]

Hi!

According to french source ( L'aviation maritime française pendant la grande guerre - ARDHAN 1999 ), this took place on 9 june 1916.
The crew was quarter-masters Mercier and Le Prévost aboard a Donnet-Denhaut coded D-5 (D for Dunkirk ).
From this book the plane was lost between Ostende and Zeebrugge because of mechanical failure. The seaplane was later found, minus its crew by a french vessel.

Gilles

[CNOCK]

Hello Gilles,

if on 9/6/1916 the seaplane was found by a French vessel, it could not be the one towed in at Zeebrugge

Regards,

Cnock